After School (group)

After School (Korean: 애프터스쿨) was a South Korean girl group formed by Pledis Entertainment, with an admissions and graduation concept. After School officially debuted in January 2009 with the song "Ah!" from the single album New Schoolgirl. Following the addition of Uee in April of that year, they released "Diva", which won the "Rookie of the Month" award at the Cyworld Digital Music Awards.

Pledis Entertainment then announced the graduation of Soyoung before adding Raina and Nana for the release "Because of You" in November 2009, which topped the monthly digital chart for December. Follow-up singles "Bang!", "Shampoo", "Flashback" and "First Love" further consolidated their popularity and saw the additions of members Lizzy, E-Young and Kaeun, as well as the graduations of original members Bekah and Kahi. In 2010, the three newest members at that time formed the group's first subunit, Orange Caramel, and in 2011 a second subunit was formed when the group was split into two teams, A.S. Red and A.S. Blue, for the release of their fourth single album.

In the beginning of 2011, the group signed with Avex Trax to begin their promotions in Japan. The group made their first official appearance in Japan by collaborating with singer Namie Amuro for a song from her collaboration album Checkmate!, titled "Make it Happen". The song won Best Collaboration at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards Japan. The group's debut single, a remake of their Korean hit "Bang!", was released in August that year and charted at number seven on the Oricon Singles Chart. Their debut Japanese album, Playgirlz, was released in 2012 and their second Japanese album, Dress to Kill, fronted by the Shinichi Osawa produced singles "Heaven" and "Shh", was released in 2014.

After School received attention for their unique live performances, often incorporating different performance styles into their songs, including drums, tap dancing and pole dancing. The group received the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Commendation in 2011 and was ranked number five in Billboard's 2017 list of the Top 10 K-pop Girl Groups of the Past Decade. From 2015 onward, Pledis halted both After School and Orange Caramel promotions and the members have embarked on individual music, acting and modeling careers. In 2019, Lizzy revealed that all members had gradually gone their separate ways.

After School was first formed following Kahi's departure from Korean-American girl group S-Blush, as she began planning to produce a new group together with the current CEO of Pledis Entertainment.^{[citation needed]} The first member other than Kahi was Bekah, who was a trainee while Kahi was in S-Blush. With Kahi's recommendation, Bekah was brought from Hawaii to South Korea. They were then introduced to Jungah, followed by Soyoung and Jooyeon, forming a five-member group.

After School as a group first made an unofficial appearance on December 29, 2008, at the SBS Song Festival. Kahi and Jungah performed "Play Girlz" alongside Son Dam Bi whilst the remaining members, Soyoung, Jooyeon, and Bekah served as backup dancers for Son Dam Bi's performance at the event.

In the start of 2009, a few days before After School's debut, Pledis Entertainment announced that the group's music concept was heavily influenced by the Pussycat Dolls. On January 15, the group released their debut single album New Schoolgirl. The album had three songs: the lead single "Ah!", "Play Girlz" and "Bad Guy" (나쁜놈). A teaser for their debut music video was released on the same day and gained over 100,000 views before its release the next day. On January 17, After School made their debut stage on television music program Music Core. Following promotional activities for "AH!", After School planned to continue to promote "Bad Guy" from their debut single New Schoolgirl. However, the track was deemed unsuitable and was banned from broadcast because a word of profanity was in the lyrics.

In April 2009, a new member, Uee, joined the group. The group then released their second single, "Diva" on April 9, 2009. They first performed the song on April 9, 2009, on M! Countdown. After School went on to win the "Rookie of the Month" award for the month of April 2009 at the Cyworld Digital Music Awards with the single. On May 21, the group released a cover of Morning Musume's "Love Machine", entitled "Dream Girl". In July, it was announced that the group would collaborate with Son Dam-bi for digital single "Amoled". It was released on July 16, as part of a promotion deal with Samsung. After School also became the opening act for The Pussycat Dolls's Doll Domination Tour along with label-mate Son Dam-bi for the Asian dates of the tour. On October 29, Soyoung officially graduated from the group to pursue an acting career. Two new members were then added to the group, Raina and Nana. On November 25, After School released their new single "Because of You" which had exceeded over 30,000 pre-orders. The song marked a change for the group to a more mature and sophisticated concept, and became extremely popular, winning three Mutizen awards for the group on SBS' Inkigayo.